WAPAKONETA, Ohio (WLIO) — An Auglaize County woman has pleaded guilty to the 2022 murder of her estranged husband.
In January, Amanda Hovanec, 38, changed her plea to guilty on a charge of aggravated murder. As part of the plea agreement, an additional charge of tampering with evidence was dismissed.
Authorities say Hovanec killed Timothy Hovanec in April 2022 while he was dropping off the couple’s children at the rural Auglaize County home of Hovanec’s mother, Anita Green. After Green took the children inside, prosecutors say Amanda Hovanec injected Timothy Hovanec with a drug using a needle, killing him.
Video and audio of the incident were captured on Timothy Hovanec’s in-car camera.
Investigators said South African resident Anthony Theodorou obtained the drug used in the killing and helped Hovanec bury Timothy Hovanec’s body in a wooded area. Theodorou also assisted in disposing of evidence related to the crime.
All three individuals pleaded guilty to federal charges connected to the murder and to bringing the drug used in the killing into the United States.
Amanda Hovanec was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison. Theodorou was sentenced to 18 years.
Green was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact.
No sentencing date has been set for Amanda Hovanec in Auglaize County on the aggravated murder charge. Green and Theodorou are each facing a charge of complicity to aggravated murder and are scheduled for a pretrial hearing March 13 in Auglaize County Common Pleas Court.
